What is the Hush? Reader Rant edition

 I received a copy of Hush by Dylan Farrow from NetGalley (it was in the read now section) in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, what is the Hush? It had so much potential at the beginning with the embroidery bringing the images to life which was cool (and here I thought my sister was wrong about this book being awful, but it turns out she was not exaggerating about any of the things in the book).

For those who do not want to read the rant that is about to ensue. This book is given 2.5 stars and that is me being very generous.

Warning a rant is about to begin and there will be spoilers so please read at your own risk:

I will try to keep the stupidity to a minimum but there was a lot of it after her mother died and Shea made it to High House, so I will put it in a list.

1. Shea somehow thinks going into a little place where a man is asleep and potential "wolves" are outside is a good idea without even checking if it was wolves which led to an innocent person dying because she was too much of an idiot. Does she care that that man dies? No, it is only for the brief moment that his throat is slit that she even cares. He could have been safe if she had used her head, but no, Shea is known for being impulsive and not thinking before she does anything. (Sounds annoying right? Well, wait because the author is going to use this characteristic for every little thing that Shea does like it excuses her for being an moron).
2. Shea never questions why Cathal would be so quick to go from wanting her executed to "oh hey, you have the Telling you are a bard" (okay, so she is special from the normal folk now. This should be fine, right? We will get more into this and the Tellings later). Like an idiot she trusts him completely for no reason whatsoever like any sane person would be a little weary of the man who wanted to kill them, but not Shea. Oh no, she is all "oh he believes me and will help avenge my mother's death this totally makes him trustworthy never mind the fact that so many people told me not to trust him".
3. Shea thinks embroidering a pair of gloves will make Keenan her trainer become friends with her and then is upset that she didn't like the gloves and threw them over the cliff. Like you met this person for less than a day Shea what were you expecting that she will grow all warm and fuzzy over gloves because you notice she was wearing a pair yesterday? You have no clue what the rules are in High House and you might have added insult to injury (we will never know because the author never really delves into this except to have Shea complain for over three pages about the gloves and how Keenan must hate her). Here when I read about her embroidering the gloves I thought oh she is doing a Telling because she always does a Telling when she embroiders and will show it to Keenan, but nope we got that drama instead.
4. Ravod touches Shea and she is magically in love with him and is so disappointed that he is being smart and practical by telling her he cannot share her feelings because you two barely know each other Shea. Take a reality check a person does not have to live you just because you love them after seeing them and deciding they are handsome. Yup, another female to fall in love with a man solely for his looks, but he is so much more (this is the treat for when this rant is over. We need to end this review on a somewhat positive note because this book got my goat and if any of you are still reading this deserve to have something happy to look forward to).
5. Shea becomes the Chosen One and is the only one who can find The Book of Days which the First Rider wrote or something. Honestly, Shea complained way too much for me to get a firm grasp on the world building which was interesting I loved the myths and how the world was created, but Shea had to ruin everything. As soon as Shea becomes the Chosen One it is like her only emotions she is allowed to have is to sigh, gasp, groan, become angry over stupid things or anger in general, and whine about. Every. Little. Thing. It got to the point I was ready to throw this book into a fire or my Dad's trimmer when he was trimming the lawn so I would not have to listen to Shea anymore. (It has also gotten to the point that this rant needed to be a thing so I am so sorry you poor people reading this thinking you were going to enjoy anything about this review. It made me so angry that I need to get all of this off my chest before I do destroy the book instead of getting rid of it like a civilized human being).
6. Shea is one of the worst friends in the history of friends. She only thinks of her friends when she needs to be grounded or on her first day she thinks of her best friend Fiona or the first time Ravod touches her. She rarely thinks about Mads who she rejected his proposal to marry him and then feels guilty that she didn't think about him. Like I don't know if Mads is supposed to be a love interest or what his role is in the book exactly except as one more thing for Shea to complain about. If you do read the book be prepared for there to be a lot of complaining on Shea's part on everything from they didn't do this to why did they do the thing I just complained they didn't do. (If it helps consider this reader rant as a warm up for what you will get throughout the entire novel. This book is actually the first time where I started out wanting to give it five stars to it losing half a star after each idiotic thing that made the book lose its potential. So, yes the 2.5 star rating is being very generous.)
7. The Tellings could have been something cool except it ended up becoming a cop out for everything. Shea sees this it must be a Telling. Oh, I need to go through this just use a Telling. How convenient that you can tell things to disappear or unlock or do anything you want really with absolutely no consequences or anyone being any the wiser because it will return back to its normal state. Shea never really had to work for anything when you have Tellings conveniently at your fingertips and lips. I ended up being so annoyed with the Tellings because it stopped becoming a cool part of the world and more like a tool for the author to use to get herself out of any holes or sticky situations.
8. The Blot. I think the only reason I kept reading was because I wanted to know how the heck ink could make people sick. Yeah that sounds cool, right? Like it could have so much potential and make the book be amazing? Yup, besides Shea being freaked out by ink not much is done to bring death by ink into the world. Oh, and her brother died by it somehow. Apparently, the Blot or Indigo Death comes to a person when they speak a forbidden word or have any contraband like ink, paper, anything to do with writing, or Gondal this magical place that is green and safe and full of life. Sounds cool, right? Well, lo and behold by the end of the book it is not a mystical thing, but a real place and now they must find it (I won't say who the they are in case someone is still planning on reading this book or what condition they are in or how they are going to find Gondal. I am not that cruel of a person *crosses fingers*).
9. Shea thinks everyone should love her because she is now a Bard even though Ravod told her not to expect kindness or friendship from anyone. Honestly, Ravod is a dream for putting up with Shea.
10. Shea thinks that she caused a landslide which took out the civilians tower because she had a dream and there was a landslide in it. Therefore, she must have been responsible. I won't tell you what she does because the whole thing is stupid and pointless and I have no clue what it served except for the author to play on the personality trait of impulsive. (Let's call it that.)

I won't go into any more because it keeps getting worse and I don't want to completely spoil it for those that still want to read it. And if you read this entire thing you are a champ and deserve that know one positive thing about this book.

Are you ready?

Ravod. That's it that is the one positive thing about this book, which is the only character that made me want to keep reading this nightmare of a book that made me feel happy at the beginning and then left me so mad the poor book is lucky that it is in one piece. (I say book because my sister had an extra copy and gave it to me so that I wouldn't have to read it on my Kindle).

Ravod saves the book in more ways than one. He is the only reasonable character that has his head on straight and the only one I could feel anything for. The more I learned about Ravod the more I felt for him and wanted to give him hug. He deserved so much more than what he got.

2.5 stars. The extra half star is only because of Ravod.

Shattering or Toxicity

 Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi was a book that was read a decade too late.

I had to have a serious talk with my inner 16-year-old because it perked up when reading this book meanwhile my actual 26-year-old self was all "wtf is this? You call this a relationship?"

The "relationship" between Adam and Juliet would be aptly called possessive aggression. And the "relationship" between Warren and Juliet would be aptly called obsession. Either one is not a true relationship or has any meaningful context to the story. It is toxic and not something we should be telling teens it is okay to have that kind of relationship. So if there are any teens reading this review: you are worth more than someone telling you who you can be with and if they get angry over someone else having the same feelings as them over you it is not love it is called possession and you can do so much better than that. You deserve better than that kind of relationship: you deserve someone who is willing to trust you and shows they love you by doing little things like complimenting you if you try something different or brings you your favourite comfort food when you are having a bad day or will listen to you with no judgement.

The story had so many contradictions in it that I stopped keeping track or putting any stock in any numbers that Juliet was spewing. (Sidenote: the thumb is not a finger so it should have been four fingers and a thumb, not five fingers). Also, the strikethroughs were cool at first, but they start to get annoying after awhile especially when you are not even sure if you should be reading the strikethroughs anymore.

If I had read this in 2011 it would have been five stars (hence the serious talk with my inner 16-year-old).

Since I read it 2021 though it is three stars.

How Did We Get The Monster Wrong?

 Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is one of those books where I could see the appeal if it was the 1800's, but now there are so many things that are wrong with it. The whole concept of the monster for one thing like Frankenstein picked out each part because they were beautiful and perfect yet somehow he failed to take into account that it had yellow eyes? Also, where the heck was he getting the body parts especially when he was making the female for the monster (I feel awful writing monster so it will now be known as M throughout this review). He was on an isolated island with very little people yet somehow he was able to get parts for the body of M's wife? Also, how did you not recognize your childhood friend or even think that M would go after Elizabeth? He did say he was going to go after your happiness and yet somehow its a shock that "oh hey look M killed people". Also, where did we get this idea that M hates fire? He spends about half the book sitting next to a fire with no fear and sets a cabin on fire (that we had to hear about for over five chapters by the way).

If I had read this in the 1800s I would have given it five stars, but in today's society I would have to give it 2 stars.

Not A Good Idea

 A Good Idea by Cristina Moracho left a lot to be desired. First off, this was a cover buy because who could resist a cover that has a rusty claw footed bathtub in the forest? I thought "oh cool, the person is going to be found murdered in the tub and the tub is going to be an integral part of the story". Nope. The tub is mentioned briefly and randomly as a story of them going into the woods one day seeing it and when they went to go look for it again with other people it had disappeared. 

I read the entire book waiting for things to happen, but when something did the MC had to complain about it. 

What I did love about the book was the whole anything bad happens blame it on the ghost of the friend who is said to haunt the theatre. That was cool and interested me to keep reading because I wanted to know if it was true and if it wasn't then what made the whole town think that?

If you like stories that involve disappearances, a friend looking for answers, a town with a superstition and people with big pockets and lots of influence to make things fun then this is the book for you.

For me it is a meh so it gets 3 out of five stars.

Didn't Do it for me Part 1

 First off, I would like to start that none of these books listed as a DNF have to do with the author and more that it was not my thing. I am not discouraging anybody from picking up these books because you never know what book is the one that holds magic for you.

The DNF's

1. Hysteria by Elisabeth De Mariaffi. I DNFed this book because I could not follow along with what was going on in the beginning and what it has to do with the character's child finding another.

2. The Alchemist by Michael Scott. I thought it was a historical book, but it ended up being a letter at the beginning and then onto modern times with a girl that is not even mentioned in the blurb. I had to reread the summary many times from different sources because it felt like I was reading a different book. I couldn't figure out what was going on and I have reached that point in my writing life where it is not worth trying to figure out what authors want the readers to know.

3. These Rebel Waves by Sara Raasch is odd because it's the type of book I love yet for some reason every time I opened the book I was left with a sense of dread and it became a chore just to read the book. Also, skipped to the ending to see if I could entice myself to read the whole book and the ending is so confusing.

4. Satellite by Nick Lake. Usually I love his books, but this one started off with all of my reading pet peeves which prohibited me from reading farther than page three. I think the incorrect grammar was meant to further bring about the world building, but I couldn't stop my brain from trying to edit all of the grammar to enjoy it.

5. The Orphan's Song by Lauren Kate. This kills me because Lauren is my favourite author and I love her books dearly. However, this book had so many plot holes from the very beginning of the book and so many inconsistencies that I could not bring myself to read past chapter 2. I will say that I did love Milo and wished the book was solely on his point of view. I also wished that the beginning was the end because damn the last 10% of the book was amazing.

6. Rag Doll by Daniel Cole. This book disappointed me because it sounded awesome. Who wouldn't love to read a book where a body is found sewn up of different victims and the detective in the case is the next victim? I was all down for it but the beginning was about this random chick being a part of a jury for a case we know nothing about and it continues for almost the entire prologue. I tried holding out because I was hoping either she would become part of the Rag Doll or is the one who finds the body, but the prologue held no excitement or intrigue for me to find out because it was taking too long to get to the crime.

7. Star Crossed by Pintip Dunn. This is more of a could not stand the main character so had to DNF on account of Princess Vela being too far whiny because I could have kept reading it if she was not in it. 

8. Rules for being a Girl by Candace Bushnell and Katie Cotugno. This book was so slow and I kept wishing that it didn't try to do all of this backstory and started off with bang here is the incident that caused people not to believe her. Sprinkle the backstory in-between so the readers can decide "oh hey, that's something people normally do". And do not get me started on Marin for a girl who is supposed to be smart and know all the rules she is pretty clueless. I skipped to the ending which was weird, but strangely cute and I loved Grey (or is it Gray?) at least he tried that's all I can say.

9. Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles. I know this is not the popular opinion, but the beginning was so slow that I was starting to fall asleep and it sucks because I was excited especially since I had just finished reading The Phantom of The Opera which this book is supposed to be based about. And the ending just felt like it was missing something for me. I couldn't connect to any of the characters (it's usually the point to stop reading when any of the characters could die a horrible tragic death and you would rejoice in it or just not give a damn about it). 

Eluding Destiny by Charlie Nottingham

 I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

First off I would like to thank the author for writing this book. It was an interesting read.

Eluding Destiny is a hard book to categorize because it's one of those books where things are intriguing enough to make you want to keep reading it, but it is also predictable for me. That's also because I read a lot of books that have this trope of one of a kind meant to save the world or destroy it.

My main issue was the retrospective aspect to it because it would be happening now, but let me tell you how I regret this moment because this is what is going to change everything. I'm not a huge fan of books with that kind of writing.

Laila was an interesting character, but she also annoyed the heck out of me because okay we get that your perfect life has fallen apart and you are unsure of Jeremy's love because such and such a thing happened.

I feel like so many things could have been avoided if the characters stopped doing this whole "I'm doing this because it will help you" attitude like I am sick of it. Just trust each other and who knows maybe things will work out or maybe it won't but the whole I know best attitude in characters in the paranormal genre has got to stop.

I kind of wished that there was more of them being fae-angel hybrids because it is a unique combination. 

This is a quick book to read so if you are looking for a book that has a different twist on the paranormal society then this is the book for you.

4 out of 5 stars.

Blood Bar: the prequel by Charlie Nottingham

 I received a free copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank the author for writing this book.

For a short book, it's okay. There is just enough information to get the readers interested in the beginning of the series with enough insight into the characters.

The only problem is that it is short, so it is hard to talk about the book without giving anything away. And I do not want to get rid of the magic of reading a book for the first time, so read it.

4 out of 5 stars.